1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a clamp for immobilizing a tube. More specifically, the present invention relates to an inflatable clamp generally useful for holding a tube, such as a endotracheal tube or other medical tube, in a desired position relative to a patient's anatomy.
2) Prior Art
A number of procedures, particularly operations or other procedures performed on patients by medical personnel include the insertion of medical tubes into the patients body, either through natural openings or through incisions or the like. In most cases, such tubes must be secured to the patients body in order that they remain correctly positioned during their use.
For example, endotracheal tubes are frequently placed through the mouth or nose of a patient into the patients trachea in order to assist the patient in breathing. It is important that the endotracheal tube remain precisely as positioned throughout the entire time it is located in the patients trachea. If the endotracheal tube is not securely held in its proper position, and instead becomes dislodged, or displaced, it may result in respiratory arrest or aspiration of stomach contents into the patients lungs, or even move into the main stem bronchus of the patient resulting in only one lung being utilized for respiration. These tube displacements are obviously extremely dangerous to the patient.
Other tubes such as feeding tubes, ostomy tubes, and general catheterization tubes, may also become very dangerous to the patient if dislodged or improperly positioned.
It is therefore important to have a device which is capable of readily securing a tube to a patients anatomy once the tube is placed in its proper position in the patient to prevent dislodgement or displacement thereof.
There have been several prior art attempts to develope a device for securing a tube in position in a patients body. Several devices which are exemplary of these prior art attachment devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,820,457, to Phillips, U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,957 to Reily et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,626 to Beran, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,882 to Laird. In each of each above noted patents, a tube such as an endotracheal tube, is held in position by a fastening device which is itself secured to the patients body. In each case however, the securing of the endotracheal tube to the patient involves a rather time consuming process for the medical personnel, including several attachment steps which are not easily reversible should it become necessary to reposition the tube, once it has been initially secured by the device. The time in which it takes medical personnel to reposition a tube in a patient's body can be extremely critical to the patient, especially in emergency type situations where speed can sometimes spell success or failure of the medical treatment being offered. Even at times when the patient will not be adversely affected by an extended process of removing a fastening device to reposition a tube, the medical personnel's time is nevertheless very valuable and could generally be better used to other purposes.
There is therefore a need in the art which the prior attachment devices have not successfully addressed. This need is for the development of a tube holding device, such as a tube clamp, which can be quickly and easily positioned on a tube for attaching it to a patients body. There is further a need such as a device which, once attached to a tube, can be very quickly and easily released therefrom (without the necessity of removing the clamping device from its attachment to the patients body) and rapidly readjusted to a new position on the tube, and then quickly resecured to the tube for immobilization thereof in its repositioned orientation.